Calendar
Our Rabbi's Message
August 17th 2007
By Rabbi Aaron KriegelIn the Parasha, which we read this week, our people are commanded to establish a system of courts when they enter the Promised Land. The laws that the courts are expected to enforce are found in the bulk of the Torah. We are all aware of many of those laws. They include the Ten Commandments and the Holiness Code. They include ritual, moral and ethical requirements. They include law for which there is a punishment and laws for which no punishment is designated.
The purpose of the courts is to decide right from wrong, good from evil, sin from ordinary action. However, the idea of courts from its inception incorporates the idea of punishment. While sometimes a deed may be prohibited, those who violate the commandment might not bear punishment. For example, one should not marry during the first thirty-three days of the Omer, but if one does, the marriage is legal and accepted. A second example holds that stealing is prohibited, but if one steals an amount whose value is less than a prutah, there is no punishment for the violation. A third example holds that a doctor who does not help a dying patient recover is guilty of murder, but not from an 'earthly' court.
Most commandments do include punishment. Murder is usually a capitol offense. Stealing is usually punished by restitution of that which is stolen plus a fine of 22% or 100% or 400% or 500% the value of the stolen object. Assault usually allows the rule of lex talionis (an eye for an eye). Consequently part of the judicial system includes a method to punish the offender and make right the condition of the victim.
For that reason the Sedra begins with the words: "One should establish judges and those who apply the decisions of the court in all of your gates. Justice without the power to enforce justice is a meaningless term in our and in any and every culture.
|
|
||